Accountability, consistency key tonight
January 27, 2006
The Husky gymnasts are sore and fatigued from their meet against UCLA last Friday, but they don't have a minute to rest -- they're tumbling right back into competition.
Tonight, No. 30 Washington (2-5) faces off against No. 13 Arizona State (2-0) and No. 25 Seattle Pacific (1-0) at Hec. Edmundson Pavilion at 7 p.m.
The Huskies are 13-37 all-time against the Sun Devils, and 58-3 all-time against the Falcons.
Under the guidance of coach John Spini, ASU's Ashley Kelly was recently voted Pac-10 Gymnast of the Week and is a 16-time all-around winner. SPU's team, led by Laurel Tindall, has qualified for the USA Gymnastics Meet for the past 23 years.
UW coach Bob Levesque feels there are a few obstacles that the team still needs to overcome.
"The girls are doing a good job and are working hard," said Levesque. "The thing is, a lot of it has to do with mentality right now. We have a sports psychologist working with us, and I think it helps with that. We're still hurting from the injuries, though."
With a reduced roster because of injured gymnasts, the load will likely be on the Huskies' key athletes to pick things up.
One of those is senior co-captain Kelly McDonald. Though still recovering from heel surgery, she has shown consistent strength on bars and beam, and hopes to work up to all-around status later on this season.
McDonald said she feels confident in the Huskies' chances for the rest of the season, but that accountability is an important theme from now on.
"There's a lot more emphasis now to hold everybody accountable, both individually and as a team," she said. "We can't take a warm-up for granted; everybody has to take responsibility so we don't have that snowball effect again."
But, as the coach explained, consistency is the current goal.
"Our priority right now is to work on consistency," said Levesque. "We're taking it one meet at a time. Once we achieve this consistency, I'm hopeful it'll take us to regionals and, ultimately, to nationals. It's tough, but not impossible."
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